Woman Restores Crumbling 1890s Manor to Turn It Into a Vacation Rental

• Tabetha Heemstra bought a crumbling 1890s manor in Rensselaer, Indiana, in July 2020.
• She’s been restoring the 3-bedroom house ever since and plans to turn it into a vacation rental.
• She enjoyed it so much that she even bought the fixer-upper next door for her next project.

Near downtown Rensselaer, Indiana, stood a charming old house that Tabetha Heemstra fell in love with at first sight.

The Queen Anne-style property was in disrepair, but even with paint peeling off its exterior, Heemstra could see its potential.

“My neck would turn towards it as we’re driving past, and I’d be like, ‘Somebody should do something. Somebody should fix and put her back to her former glory,'” Heemstra, 55, told Business Insider.

In July 2020, she became that person.

At that time, she had been gradually stepping away from helping out at her husband’s waste removal business because she wanted to focus on her passions.

She said it was her husband who had suggested that she try restoring houses, on account of her love for decorating and designing.

Heemstra started looking around to see what was available, and it was like fate when she discovered that the old, crumbling house she loved was on the market.

“I was like, ‘You’re kidding me. This is for sale?'” Heemstra said. She went for a viewing the very next day and put in an offer.

Within three weeks, the house was hers, she added, preferring to keep the amount she paid for the property private.

Houses in Rensselaer have a median listing home price of $249,900, based on the latest data from real-estate platform realtor.com.

Built in the 1890s

The three-bedroom, two-bathroom home was built in 1893 based on a design by prominent American architect George F. Barber, according to a National Register of Historic Places document that Heemstra shared with BI.

The property had been sitting empty for about a year when Heemstra came along.

Apart from the peeling paint, the windows were leaking, and even the plumbing system had to be replaced.

“They had put a new roof on it the year before I bought it, and that was really honestly about the only thing that I did not need to do,” Heemstra said. “Everything else had to be done.”

Turning it into a vacation rental

Heemstra started working on the fixer-upper almost immediately. It’s been over three years and the restoration is almost complete, she said.

All that’s left are two upper sections on the exterior that need to be repainted, which Heemstra says she’ll get to after winter.

She lives about 20 minutes away and has no intention of moving into the house once it’s done.

Instead, she plans to turn it into a vacation rental where she can host getaways for couples and families.

Rensselaer is about 100 miles south of Chicago, and a two-hour drive from Indianapolis. Vacationers often visit the Jasper County Fair or go on an art walk to explore public murals and sculptures around the town.

Heemstra also sees the space as having potential for brides-to-be and has transformed the parlor into a dressing and make-up room filled with several antique vanities.

“There’s a cool place downtown Rensselaer that’s a wedding venue. It’s an old building, but they don’t really have space for brides to get ready,” she said. “So I was like, maybe this would be a good place.”

Doing it herself

Heemstra did most of the work herself. She hired professional contractors — mostly people she knew from church — to help her with plumbing and electrical work.

She’s only ever completed small renovation projects in her own house in the past, and nothing comes close to the scale of restoring the manor.

The most tedious part of the restoration process was working on the exterior, which has a lot of decorative detail. Sometimes Heemstra even had to resort to using dental tools to scrape the old paint off.

But the hardest part is getting into the groove of learning a new skill, she added. That said, she enjoys the challenge of trying new things, such as glazing windows.

“Don’t tell me I can’t learn something new. I’m going to figure it out. It may not be perfect but I’ll learn as I go,” Heemstra said.

Already rented it once out before

Even though the house isn’t ready on the outside, Heemstra says that she’s already rented the place out once.

“It was for the fiancée of my friend’s son to use while her bridal party got ready for their wedding in September,” she said. “It was nice to be able to provide a beautiful spot for friends and a nice dry run to see how the space would work out for them. “

Despite the effort it took to restore the manor, Heemstra says that she enjoyed the process so much that she’s even got her next project lined up — the house next door.

“I like the idea that it’s right next door. It was empty, and I felt like if I fix that up, it’s only going to help my house with renting and value,” she said, adding that her husband thought she was insane.

“He’s like, ‘I can’t believe you bought that.’ And I’m like, ‘I know, I’ve lost my mind,'” she continued.

Have a realistic timeline

Heemstra has a piece of advice for those who are interested in restoring old houses: Be realistic about how long it’ll take to complete the project.

“It’s going to take longer than you think — I was so naive,” she said. “People would ask, ‘When is it going to be ready?’ And in my mind, because of work that I’ve done before on our home, I was saying June 2021.”

That would’ve meant that Heemstra completed the restoration project within a year of buying the home.

But she ended up missing and moving her deadline multiple times after, she said.

“It’s not cheap. It’s not for the faint of heart, but if you have a desire and a love for saving old homes, you go for it,” Heemstra added. “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time — that’s what you got to do.”